You aren't mistaken if you think Nebraska's secondary has more swagger this season.

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Consider last Saturday: The Cornhuskers knocked off the then-22nd-ranked Oregon Ducks. Memorial Stadium, in the midst of a 350th consecutive sellout, was sent into pandemonium as the clock dripped to zero. Joshua Kalu, a junior cornerback, spent easily 30 seconds dancing and shimmying, two-stepping and bobbing on the field nearest the tunnel before returning to the locker room. Chris Jones, another junior cornerback, danced right along with him. Thousands crowed, including a young girl in a Husker T-shirt, who shouted each player's jersey number as they approached her spot by the guardrail. The ball-hawking defenders fed off the energy and the crowd, in turn, fed off their elation.

When head coach Mike Riley arrived in the locker room, junior safety Kieron Williams was there, motioning for him to dance, an invitation Riley promptly accepted -- well, sort of.

"We just wait for him to come into the locker room and try to see if we can get his best dance moves out of him," Williams said of his 63-year-old coach. "It’s been fun to see him try to dance like us."

No, there's no shortage of confidence among Brian Stewart's squad, a unit that allowed 3,777 passing yards a season ago, the most in program history; only five Division-1 teams allowed more. It was a glaring weakness, one that opposing offenses picked at repeatedly throughout 2015 until it was understood that virtually anyone could take the top off defensive coordinator Mark Banker's unit.

Consider that from 2008-2014, the Nebraska secondary allowed an average of 2,568 passing yards per season, more than 1,000 fewer than the Cornhuskers allowed in Riley's first season. The transition was tough for all involved, senior safety Nate Gerry noted.

Things have changed in Chapter 2, however: Nebraska ranks 40th in pass defense, seventh-best in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers' 5.9 yards per pass attempt average ranks in the top 30. They've shaved nearly 100 yards off their passing-yards-allowed average, leading to an overall defense that is the sixth-best in terms of grade, according to Pro Football Focus. The Cornhuskers have five more interceptions than touchdowns allowed, jumping 108 spots in turnover margin.

"We are, as a whole, doing better in that area than we did a year ago," Riley said. "We have to continue that trend."

Lockdown U, the secondary's mantra, has taken over in Lincoln -- and class is very much in session.

Stewart conceptualized the name and T-shirts to brand the identity. Players have donned the shirts before and after games, on and off campus; it is their uniform.

As Williams notes, it's more than a platitude.

"It’s just a mentality," he said. "You no longer just represent yourself; you represent a group. If you can carry that into game day, carry that into practice, even into class, and you know that the assignments that you have to do in class to get your grades to be the way they’re supposed to be so you can play -- that’s a Lockdown U mentality.

"It’s not just on the field; it’s off the field, too. I think once you have an identity as a group, that allows a group to elevate."

What if a linebacker wanted to join the group, a reporter asked.

"I think he'd have to play some deep balls," Williams said, laughing.

Even if you don't buy the flare, the brand or the name, consider what the secondary is doing on the field.

Last year, through Week 3, Nebraska had allowed three consecutive opponents -- Brigham Young, South Alabama and Miami -- to eclipse 300 yards through the air, while completing better than 57 percent of team passes. This year, no team has thrown for more than 245 and only one team has completed more than 56 percent of team passes. Nebraska has allowed two touchdowns through the air, down three from this point last year.

Banker's defense allowed 27 points through the first two games; against BYU, in last year's season opener, the team allowed 33.

Oregon's high-octane, much-talked-about offense entered Memorial Stadium averaging better than 301 yards and an electric three touchdowns per contest; it left with 146 yards and zero touchdowns through the air. The loss broke a streak of 82 consecutive games with a touchdown pass.

Perhaps nothing in the team's most recent win was more emblematic of the transformation than Oregon's final drive. The Ducks received the ball with just under 2:30 remaining, down by three. Nebraska lost five games last season on its opponent final offensive play, so it knew the narrative well in real time. The familiar cadence was impossible to avoid.

There was the game against BYU, in which the Cougars won on a 42-yard Hail Mary to snap Nebraska's streak of season-opening victories at 29. There was the 50-yard backbreaking pass from Wes Lunt to Malik Turner to set up the game-winning touchdown, which happened to be through the air. There was Joel Stave's 23-yard completion to Troy Fumagalli with 25 seconds remaining to set up the game-winning field goal. A week later, there was Clayton Thorson's 27-yard completion to Justin Jackson to set up yet another game-winning field goal.

"In the back of my mind and a lot of the other guys' minds, was not again," Gerry said.

But it wasn't to be this time: Nebraska's secondary forced incompletion after incompletion, and sealed the victory.

Chalk some of the new look to a chip-on-the-should mentality.

"We have something to prove all year," senior safety Nate Gerry said. "We have the same guys as we had last year. Everyone is bought in right now."

The rest of the team feeds off the secondary's energy, and as Nebraska enters conference play this weekend, there's reason to be optimistic about Riley's team moving forward.